sweetheart
Americannoun
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sweethearts
plural
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either of a pair of lovers in relation to the other.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) an affectionate or familiar term of address.
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a beloved person.
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Informal. a generous, friendly person.
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Informal. anything that arouses loyal affection.
My old car was a real sweetheart.
noun
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a person loved by another
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informal a lovable, generous, or obliging person
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a term of endearment for a beloved or lovable person
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sweetheart
First recorded in 1250–1300, sweetheart is from Middle English swete herte. See sweet, heart
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They were previously made to give up their titles and leave their families - which is what Princess Mako did in 2021 to marry her college sweetheart.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Born Mary Jo Campbell on July 26, 1934, MJ married her high school sweetheart, whom she divorced two months later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
He married his college sweetheart, with whom he would have triplet sons, and joined Exxon as a research engineer in Tulsa, Okla., in 1963.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Ashleigh Stanley did not bother with make-up when she tied the knot with childhood sweetheart Jake Stanley, 29, at Llanerch Vineyard in Hensol, Vale of Glamorgan.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but he’s really, just, y’know, kinda low right now,” Grandma explained gently.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
People also meet their sweethearts in college or at jobs that require similar qualifications.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 14, 2026
"It's here that we still meet our sweethearts, that we swap our numbers scribbled on little bits of paper," says fisherman Paulin Agbokounou.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Dusty and Ruby were adolescent sweethearts, but the audience doesn’t need to know the whole backstory to guess why they broke up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
Two childhood sweethearts have been reunited after more than 85 years thanks to an old school photograph.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025
I used to go — when I was little, I liked to pick flowers and peek — but I’m older now — my friends have sweethearts.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
